Gold work and metal work of The Pre-Columbian
Cultures
The Pre-Columbian Cultures developed highly
sophisticated and beautiful gold work, so much that became pure and
simple Gold Art.
In describing the gold working developments of pre Hispanic Colombia, we
have deciphered coherent patterns that permit the establishment of a
clear relationship between the working of metals and the economic and
political organization of the gold working chiefdoms. The earliest
gold work is characterized by an emphasis on hammering techniques for
pure gold. Great, spectacular pieces were produced, but not in large
quantities. Later, complex cacicazgos emphasized smelting techniques,
the employment of alloys and - above all - the serial production of cast
pieces. Relatively speaking, the objects produced in later eras are less
splendid than the enthralling ornaments of pure gold created by
hammering. However, this does not indicate the slightest "degeneration"
in gold working. To the contrary, it denotes the development of different
production strategies, linked to providing larger quantities of objects
to a greater number of people.
The most ancient gold working centers in the country are those in the
south and southwest regions. There, we find the oldest evidence of
social complexity concurrent with the elaboration of spectacular pieces
of pure gold. The political nature of these first chiefdoms gave great
importance to the exhibition of objects of prestige.
The metallic adornments that the chieftains wore required an enormous
investment of work, and pieces were created to be splendid. During this
era, which in general terms lasted from several centuries prior to and
five or six hundred years into the our era, the populations in the south
of the country also placed enormous emphasis on monumental statuary,
networks of ceremonial pathways and also spectacular ceramics.
As the internal dynamics of development reached the southernmost parts
of the country, the chiefdoms of the north developed their own gold work.
Initially, northern societies - Muisca, Sinu, and Tairona - copied Quimbaya Classic pieces, the first culture to emphasize casting using
the lost wax process. The reason the pieces copied from the Quimbaya
Classic style were popular is not clear. ' Probably, trade played an
important role. As we have seen, each community autonomously solved its
basic needs by controlling different ecosystems. Thus, trade was
directed not so much toward supplying goods basic for survival but
rather toward providing communities with prestige items which were
exhibited by chiefs and shamans to emphasize their status. Probably
Quimbaya Classic adornments circulated to the chiefdoms in the north of
the country where, eventually, they were copied by local artisans. This process does not imply that the different societies from the north of
the country shared linguistic, ethnic, or cultural ties. with those of
the south They were societies that participated in networks of exchange
and for which the acquisition and, ideally, the production of metal
adornments were important.
With the development of complex chiefdoms in the north, particularly on
the high plains of Cundinamarca and Boyaca and in the Sierra Nevada de
Santa Marta, gold work was completely transformed. It should be observed
that gold work was produced in specialized centers, that there was
greater emphasis placed on the utilization of tumbaga and even molds for
serial production. This body of evidence indicates that gold work was
oriented not toward the production of exclusive pieces but rather toward
large quantities of articles which required less production time per
unit. The emergence of specialized gold working centers in Tairona (Bondigua),
Sinu, Quimbaya (Dabeiba), and Muisca (Guatavita, Gachancipa and Pasca)
freed artisans who worked gold from other duties within the society. The
use of tumbaga to reduce the point of fusion of the metals translated
into tremendous savings in time and resources, variables which are
particularly critical when the goal is to produce a considerable
quantity of items. While the display of a few impressive adornments was
crucial for maintaining status in early southern chiefdoms, more direct
control over the mining, production and circulation of less impressive
adornments predominated in the more advanced chiefdoms that the
Spaniards found at the time of conquest. Thus, instead of a decline in
gold working processes, we witness notable progress in artisan and
technical specialization.
gold working practices are essentially the result of the long structuring
process belonging to complex societies. As can be inferred from our
thesis, none of the pieces on display at the Museo del Oro can be
separated from the social and economic nature of the society that
produced them. Clearly, archaeologists cannot place the economic
production and social organization next to each piece within the
showcase. In the majority of cases, we must accept the selection of
certain artifacts as representative of a whole body of work, those which
are the most spectacular.
However, more than pieces of jewelry or adornments, they are the result
of a process of a particular history which includes, precisely, economic
and political variables.
We know more about the gold working societies today than we did in the
past, a knowledge based on many things other than the addition of new
spectacular gold pieces. The metal adornments displayed in showcases and
those which are not sufficiently attractive to be displayed are part of
a vaster universe, composed of economic, cultural and political
variables that wrought social change.
Thus, when visiting the museum, it is worth your while to remember that
the history of gold work in Colombia is inseparable from that of the
peoples who were nurtured by it. |
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